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The B.C. coroner has confirmed the five snowmobilers killed in an avalanche near McBride, B.C., are from Alberta.

The dead are identified as Vincent Eugene Loewen, 52, of Vegreville, Tony Christopher Greenwood, 41, of Grand Prairie County, Ricky Robinson, 55, of Spruce Grove, Todd William Chisholm, 47, of St. Albert and John Harold Garley, 49, of Stony Plain.

Chisholm’s family offered their gratitude to fellow surviving snowmobilers for their efforts after the fatal avalanche.

“Todd had a passion for sledding in the mountains. He died too young doing what he enjoyed with his sledding buddies,” wrote Irene Blackburn, a close friend of the family.

Others took to Facebook to express their grief.

“He was good man in every sense of the word and the world got a little bit greyer when he left it. My thoughts and condolences to the Garley family and the rest of the families of the McBride tragedy,” wrote Brenda Cleland, remembering her friend, John Garley.

The deadly avalanche took place in the Renshaw area of B.C. around 1:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon, discovered by a member of the search and rescue team whose snowmobile had broken down about 350m from the 700m x 800m avalanche.

Rod Whelpton with the Robson Valley Search and Rescue Team was snowmobiling with seven others when his snowmobile had a mechanical failure. He called for a helicopter and when he went out to a ridge, he discovered the avalanche.

“I was out for fun myself,” Whelpton said. “There was no avalanche activity in the area I was playing around.”

The group called from a satellite phone for more search and rescue crews and sent out two spot locator beacons.

A large number of snowmobilers were on the hill at the time, 17 different riders from four groups. Of those, 11 were flown out by local helicopter operators Clime Helicopters and Yellowhead. One of the men flown out had a dislocated knee.

Cpl. Jay Grierson with the McBride RCMP said it was unusual for that many snowmobilers to be in one area at a time.

Many of those caught in the avalanche, described as experienced and well-prepared, had pulled themselves from the slide. And by the time the helicopters arrived, four of the five victims had been dug out of the snow.

“Everybody was very skilled,” Whelpton said.

McBride RCMP were joined by Mounties from Valemount, the Robson Valley Search and Rescue Team and the BC Coroners Service. The Renshaw snowmobiling area has been closed while a certified avalanche technician investigates.

Grierson described McBride as a welcoming and supportive community for snowmobile enthusiasts. One woman called up offering chili to anyone affected by the deaths.

“We see the same people repeatedly because it’s a beautiful spot to come to and they’re welcome here and they enjoy the area,” Grierson said. “This type of thing affects local citizens.”

McBride is about 530 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

Mount Monroe, in the Robson Valley near McBride, B.C., is seen in the distance.

Mount Monroe, in the Robson Valley near McBride, B.C., is seen in the distance.

Survivors of the accident looked shaken as they arrived at McBride’s airport Friday, shortly after pulling bodies of fellow snowmobilers from the slide, says a search and rescue official.

Dale Mason of Robson Valley Search and Rescue said six men were flown by helicopter from the mountain to the airport, where they were met by police and paramedics. Some were injured and had little to say, he said.

“They all had a pretty bad day,” he said. “It’s a pretty traumatic event.”

Mason said survivors pulled bodies from the snow before rescue crews arrived.

Asked how difficult it is to extract a body from an avalanche, Mason replied, “It’s sort of like shovelling concrete.”

Mason said he had been doing search and rescue work in the area for 30 years and had never seen an avalanche kill so many people.

He described the area where the avalanche occurred as designated snowmobiling backcountry without an inbounds or out-of-bounds area. He said there was a “considerable” avalanche hazard on Friday and there were warning signs posted at trailheads.

The tragedy has prompted an outpouring of support from the snowmobiling community. Ron Willert, who runs an online forum called snowandmud.com, said the disaster hit “too close too home.”

“McBride is my backyard, I spend many weekends there all winter and summer,” he said in an email.

A leading expert said the window to rescue someone who’s been buried is about 10 minutes, as the fallen snow hardens like concrete.

Karl Klassen of Avalanche Canada has said that the avalanche appears to have been human-triggered, but he did not elaborate. He said rain and snow over the last few days followed by clearing and cooling on Friday may have produced stresses in the snowpack.

As Advertised in the Edmonton SUN

Avalanche victims all from Alberta, 3 from Edmonton area

MCBRIDE, B.C. -- Five snowmobilers have died in a "very large" avalanche near the interior community of McBride, B.C., prompting a rescue and recovery operation.

The McBride RCMP said Friday evening it was co-ordinating the search for a number of snowmobilers who were involved in the fatal avalanche in the Renshaw area east of McBride, which is about 210 km southeast of Prince George.

Mounties said they were notified early Friday afternoon of two separate GPS beacon activations in the area and activated the Robson Valley Search and Rescue Team.

One helicopter was dispatched to the area to assist, and two search and rescue technicians were on scene almost immediately as they were snowmobiling in the area just prior to the slide occurring, police said.

Rescue crews quickly confirmed that the incident involved at least three separate groups of snowmobilers caught in an avalanche, and they assisted with the rescue of several people throughout the afternoon and te